


Foreshadowing

by Lirazel



Category: Sound and the Fury - William Faulkner
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-29
Updated: 2011-08-29
Packaged: 2017-10-23 05:21:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/246695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lirazel/pseuds/Lirazel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Caroline Compson has Dilsey sew lace on the bottom of Caddy’s drawers, an edge of delicate, frothy white peeping out below the hem of her pretty dresses.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Foreshadowing

Caroline Compson has Dilsey sew lace on the bottom of Caddy’s drawers, an edge of delicate, frothy white peeping out below the hem of her pretty dresses. Caroline smiles to see it, and there isn’t much that makes her smile these days ( _any day_ ).

When Dilsey calls the children in to dinner, Caddy appears, pink-cheeked and breathless from play, clutching Benjy’s chubby hand in her own, Quentin right beside her, and Jason lollygagging out in the yard. Caroline gasps in dismay, presses a graceful hand to her breast: the hem of her daughter’s dress is smeared with mud, the lace ruined. Caddy is sent to bed without any dinner ( _Benjy wails, Quentin mopes, Jason smirks_ ).

If she was being deliberately naughty, her contrary mind set on rebellion, perhaps Caroline could understand ( _Caroline’s father fought in the War, of course, and so did Jason’s_ )—or at least think of a more fitting punishment ( _Caroline is a great believer in the verse that says, “Spare the rod and spoil the child”_ ). But Caddy seems not even to notice: it’s as though she believes that mud-caked lace is the natural state of things, like tangles in her curls and hair ribbons that won’t stay tied. Caroline despairs of ever teaching her daughter to be ladylike and retreats to bed with a headache and a cold compress held against her temples.

\--

Dilsey scrubs and scrubs, but the lace remains a dingy grey: it will never be white again.

\--

Caddy doesn’t even notice.


End file.
